Lucifer staggered through the pearly gates- well not gates, per say, more like those automatic circle doors at airports. His wings ached and at this point he leaned heavily on Gabriel. Neither of them had spoken while cleaning up the messes left in the hospital. Demon corpses, blood everywhere, Amara. They had burned and salted the demons but Amara had been left untouched until they found a proper way to deal with her. Cas and Dean had been brought to the bunker and laid on the beds in one of the guest rooms with a spell over than to preserve the bodies until burial.

"So," Gabe said, breaking the silence. "That happened."

Lucifer laughed softly. "Dean," he pondered. "That could have easily been one of us, you know." He shuddered at the thought of loosing Gabe, one of his closest brothers.

"Poor Sam," Gabe said. "We have to keep an eye on him."

"Don't think I'd be so welcome."

"For all you've done these past weeks he has to at least agree you have canceled out some of the bad."

Lucifer shook his head. "You don't know the half of what I did."

"Enlighten me."

"I'd prefer not to. You do realize Michael was also in there, the cage was not a happy place for me. Not only Sam was tortured."

"Oh. I'm sorry Lucifer."

They stepped through the spinning doors. Lucifer caught his breath. Hundred of remaining Angels stood there, dressed in sharp looking vessels and grey clothes. Gabriel smiled and nudged him. "Ready to redeem yourself brother?" he asked.

Lucifer limped forward, thanking everything he knew of that Gabe was there to help support him. "Sisters," he called. "Brothers, long time no see."

There was a glimmer of silver as hundreds of Angel blades were dropped from sleeves. "Why," said an Angel in the front. "Why should we trust you not to turn on us? Why do you deserve redemption?"

"Firstly, how could I turn on you? The last time I did anything to threaten God's power I ended up in a cage. For millennia. Second, if anyone needs to redeem themselves it's our old man Himself."

A collective gasp rose from the Angels. An Angel with a pretty young woman as a vessel asked, "how could you say that?"

"How can you not?" Lucifer asked. "He has been gone for years. When was the last time you even saw him? Heard word of him being in Heaven? Castiel looked for him and he never found anything."

"Do not speak to us of that traitor," snarled an Angel with a stunningly grey eyed man. "You wore him here once. Heavens most wanted in the visage of Heavens most hated." He stopped, looked around. "Castiel isn't here?"

Lucifer's throat closed up. "Amara killed him while he was trying to warn the Winchesters it was a trap. She tore out his Grace, ensured a very human, very painful death."

Silence fell like a wet blanket. Lucifer could feel Gabriel shaking from grief. The Angels bowed their heads in unison and then raised the to look at the Archangel's standing in front of them.

"There was a time," a tall African American woman said, her voice soft and sorry. "There was a time when Cas commanded us, when it was Heaven and then the Winchesters. Did he tell you why he turned? And Gabriel, we need an explanation. Why aren't you dead?"

Lucifer didn't speak for a while, thinking about his dead brother. "He didn't turn," he said slowly. "He simply followed God's will. It spoke of loving humanity and he did just that, he didn't want to see it hurt. And he loved it and fell for it in every way I can think of, but it wasn't all of humanity he loved. He still saw the pain and destruction they caused to one another. Sam Winchester, my vessel, the boy with the demon blood, Cas loved him like a brother because Sam was more of one to him than any of you have been. And Cas loved Dean, truly, truly loved him. I didn't know Angel's could love like that until I saw Castiel's heart."

"Love," said a tall man. "Love as in romantic? Not family?"

Lucifer nodded.

"He truly had fallen."

Lucifer stiffened. "I'm going now," he said. "I want to make sure he is acquainted with his Heaven."

"Lucifer, wait," said a soft voice from the back. A tall, handsome man parted the crowd. The vessel was young and darkly beautiful. His eyes were green, nearly as green as Dean's had been. Lucifer couldn't breathe.

"Asmodei," he whispered, voice catching.

"It's been awhile, has it not?"

"You've kept the same vessel," Lucifer noted. "Suits you."

"I've missed you Lucifer," Asmodei said softly. "You promised me you wouldn't leave, that the Mark wouldn't change you."

Lucifer ignored the confused noise Gabe made and pushed off of the shorter Archangel, staggering. "We can't keep all promises," he told Asmodei. "And I regretted it, every day for over one million years, I regretted defying God. I regretted it but, you know what? Someone had to tell Him that His blind love for mankind was wrong. If they hadn't been created, so many Angels could have been spared. Michael would sit among us, Raphael, Castiel. Now, I'm not saying His love was completely wrong but it did come without reason. We Angels proved ourselves, all mankind did was exist."

"But not all bad came from it."

Lucifer shook his head. The gesture jostled his wings painfully. "No. They have free will, they have love in the purest form, music beyond all of the Heavenly Host, they have masterful hand to create and destroy. Despite everything bad they have done, they've also created."

"And the Winchesters?"

"Dean Winchester is dead. Sam is not probably grieving for him and Cas." That question reminded him once again of his purpose. "I must check on Castiel, make sure he is suited to his Heaven."

"I'll go with you," Asmodei said. "We have a lot of catching up."

Lucifer nodded. "My wings," he said. "Amara ripped them."

"Show me."

Lucifer felt the bone snapping pain in his wings, jostling his entire Grace. They unfolded, huge and gold, dripping with blood and the pearly arches of bones peeking through. He could see the shock on the faces of his family.

Gabriel shuddered. He felt sick seeing the wings in full, taking in the severity of the wounds for the first time. His brothers beautiful wings were mangled, the gold feathers matted down with blood. He saw sinewy muscle on the bones and blood dripping down. The right wing was half destroyed and the left one more so. "I'm not sure how to heal this," he said sadly.

"I know. I had little hope you could." Lucifer folded them again. "Assist me to Cas's Heaven?"

"Go to Dean's first," Gabriel instructed. "They probably share one anyways and I need to tell Sam his brother is safe as soon as possible."

"Of course," Lucifer agreed.

Gabriel and Asmodei both took one of Lucifer's arms. "We will answer any questions you have when we return," Gabriel promised. In a whirl they were off.

The Heaven that they saw in front of them was a field in a soft black night. There was a road leading through it, and a house on the side of the road which was graveled and bumpy. The Impala sat parked in the centre of the field, a figure sat on top of it, eyes skywArd. "Dean," called Lucifer.

The man swung his legs down, dropping a glass beer bottle as he ran to meet the Angels. "Gabriel!" he said loudly, slowing to a stop a few feet in front of said Angel.

"Dean? Where's Cas?" Gabe asked at the same time as Dean blurted out, "how's Sammy?"

"Sam's fine," Lucifer said. "He's a mess but that's predictable. He'll heal. Now Cas?"

Dean shrugged and Gabe noticed his eyes were slightly red. "I dunno," Dean said. "Not here."

"What do you mean?" Asmodei asked. "How can you not share a Heaven?"

"Who are you?" Dean asked snappishly, looking the Angel up and down. "I don't know where he is. Sam was wrong, he doesn't have feelings for me."

"Are you freaking joking?" Lucifer shouted. "I've been in his head, his heart! Dean, he loves you. He might have fallen for humanity but he loved you. Nothing was more important that you, not Sam, not his family, not the world."

"Then why isn't he here?" Dean shouted back. "Why didn't he choose to be here, with me? If I mattered so much then why?" His voice ended on a whispered. "Why isn't he here?"

"I don't know," Asmodei said. "I am Asmodei by the way, pleasure Dean Winchester."

"It's all mine," Dean said rudely, ignoring the hand Asmodei had held out. "Look, I just want to know he's here, in Heaven."

"We can travel," Lucifer said. "Between Heavens. I will need my brothers for this but we can take you, help you find him."

"Please," Dean whispered. "Oh Go-Yes please," he said, hurriedly fixing his mistake.

"You can say 'God' Dean," Asmodei told him. "Our Father is absent and the Angels won't punish you."

"Just-just please take me to see him," Dean said, waving off the comment.

Lucifer smiled. "If my brothers would help me, of course."

Gabriel nodded. "I will help, we owe you Dean. You killed Amara, you saved the world so many times and you have saved Heaven too."

Dean bowed his head. "Don't say that," he murmured. "I've done more damage than I've done good."

Asmodei put a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Winchesters," he said. "You father was the same way, watching you and your brother. He cursed himself for raising you to be hunters, he screamed for everything you went through."

"Dad?" Dean asked, breathing catching in his throat. "He...he's here, he watched us?"

Asmodei nodded. "Shall we take you to him?"

"Cas," Dean said firmly. "Cas first. I...there's something I need to tell him."

Asmodei gave him a knowing smile. "Of course." He lay his free hand on Lucifer's arm. "Ready?"

Dean exhaled. "As I'll ever be."

The Angels moved in sync and there was a notion of flight, freedom, and wind hitting your face. It was nothing like demon travel, that harsh tube that you were squeezed into. It was over entirely too fast.

Dean looked around. It was a calm afternoon, beautiful and sunny. It looked almost like a garden, with its multiple trimmed bushes and rows of flowers. A fountain sat in the middle, stone unfolding from the pole in the centre like petals from a lotus.

"This is Cas's heaven?" he asked.

"No..." Asmodei replied slowly. "When he was an Angel, he visited this place often. It an autistic man's eternal Tuesday afternoon."

"So did you get the room number wrong?" Dean asked.

"That's impossible," Lucifer said slowly. "Something wrong."

"He's not in Heaven," Gabriel realized.

Dean felt ice pour through his veins. "What? How...where is he?" he asked, slightly panicked. "How is he not here?"

"I don't know," Lucifer said in an agonized voice. "CAS!" he shouted, knowing it wouldn't work. "CAS!"

"Shut up!" shouted Dean. "If he's not here that gives us two other options. Hell, or Purgatory. I know he's dead, I felt it in my heart, there's no way he survived. So Hell, or Purgatory, which one?"

"Amara killed him, she might have tethered him down to Earth. Spirit type thing." Gabriel ran a hand through his hair.

"No, no. With the level of energy in that room, we'd have known if there were any spirits." Dean felt himself beginning to panic, fearful of there being a place, an Empty that Cas was lost too. Then an idea struck him. "Call a Reaper. Billie, preferably."

"Billie the Reaper," Gabe said softly. "She can't come to Heaven and she will only answer for you."

"Why only me?"

"You're her charge, Sam, Cas, and you. All three of you have died over and over again and she was the one to reap you, her connection to you is unbreakable and dark."

Then take me down to Earth!" Dean snapped. "If I'm alive, she's showing. She wants my ass dead, the only reason I'm not in the Empty is because I have Angels on my side! She told me that when I was dying."

"It's true," Lucifer said. "He's alive, she will come. Then we can ask her about Cas."

Asmodei made a disagreeing noise. "We can just summon her. We can't keep bringing them back to life, brother. We can ask Sam."

"Shut up, Sam isn't coming into this. He just lost Dean, we can't tell him that we're trying to bring back Cas but not Dean," Gabe said loudly. "Asmodei has a point, they can't keeping coming back. But, regardless, Dean's bond with Cas can prove useful. If we are searching for him, Dean can connect and perhaps get an idea of where he is."

"Excuse us," Lucifer said with an exaggerated sigh. He grabbed his brothers arms and pulled them across the grass. "We need to talk," he told them when they were far enough away from Dean.

"Fine," Gabe snapped. "I'll go first."

"Actually, I'm the oldest," Lucifer said with a wink. "I'll go first."

Asmodei sighed. "I'm the one who hasn't been trapped in a cage or pretending to be dead for years, I should go first."

"No!" Lucifer and Gabe said violently in unison.

Asmodei sighed and rolled his eyes.

Lucifer turned away and called across the field to Dean. "Dean! Does the oldest get to speak first?"

"Always," Dean called back.

Both Asmodei and Gabe glared at them. "Right," Gabe said. "Go on then."

Lucifer grinned, pleased to be getting his way. "So," he began. "We should take him back. Why? Because we owe Sam and Dean it, they stopped Armageddon, which I did want to happen but come on. They saved the world and Heaven so many times, Sam needs his brother, Dean needs Sam. The world might still have reasons to keep them."

"But if Dean goes back the Reapers would be furious, Heaven would be furious," Asmodei said. "We would be outcasts, more Angels who picked humanity over Heaven."

"I'm game for bringing him back," Gabe said. "How do we smuggle him back down?"

Asmodei did not look pleased with the arrangement. "But the Reapers," he said.

"Billie's done her job, she reaped Dean because, honestly, she didn't care about Sam as much. He hasn't evaded her as many times. Billie is a trapped being, lost between worlds. She will have retired as much as she can, perhaps walk around, enjoy humanity before it's inevitable decrease whenever that might be. She reaped Cas and Dean, Sam's someone else's, she won't answer to calls unless the souls she worked so hard to take are free. Dean's an obvious choice. Besides," Lucifer added. "As Gabe said earlier, we can use Dean's bond with Cas to find him. I don't know about you but I want my brother to have his resting place if not alive again."

"Asmodei, it's up to you," Lucifer said softly. "Does he live or does he stay dead? Throw the stone."

Dean waited anxiously as the three Angels talked. He paced across the bright green grass, breathing in the smell of cherry blossoms. Part of him wanted to stay here, this was his Paradise, he could see Ellen and Jo, Ash, Bobby, his parents, Charlie, Kevin. Dean's heart twisted painfully. God, did he miss them.

A hush fell over the field. Dean looked up, realizing the Angels had fallen silent. Asmodei walked over, Lucifer and Gabe flanking him. "We've come to a decision."

"And?" Dean said.

"And we've thought about it," Gabe said, obviously enjoyed the anxiety he was inflicting. "What do you think Sam's reaction would be? I'll bet he attacks you but Luciferthinks he'll be too stunned to do anything, you know, when he sees you."

AN: so he isn't gonna stay dead as long as I hoped but oh well. Also, I will explain the relation between Asmodei and Luci soon so don't worry about that. This story is lasting far longer than I thought it would but I'll keep going until the end if you want me to. Thanks you reveiwing and reading!